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Post by Chris W on Jul 13, 2018 20:16:52 GMT -7
For my summer season (a transitional season) I decided to maintain my weight within several pounds of my performance weight. The results of this experiment so far have been encouraging.
For the last several years, I've gained around 10 pounds (close to 165 at 5' almost 10") after my performance phase, trained hard, and cut it back down (around 153-155) by manipulating my diet when the next performance phase came around. What I noticed is that it's quite easy to put that weight on, but fairly painful to cut it down. It also seemed to be relatively easy to maintain my weight close to 155 during the performance phase.
After my spring season, I decided to be a bit more serious about my nutrition. The main changes have been including more fruit and vegetables (made easier by a vegetable garden, fresh blueberries and strawberries from the yard, and some nice farmers markets) and cutting out obvious junk (stop adding brown sugar to my cereal, dessert more rare than regular). The diet changes have not been significant, but I have been able to maintain my weight at or slightly below 155 fairly easily. I'm actually eating a bit more than during previous performance phases and my strength and power continue to improve (clear evidence in my training logs).
So far, there has been no down side. Perhaps this simply means I'm not as lean as I can be, but that's difficult to determine. I don't have a good way to measure my body fat levels, but I'd be interested to see what it is. I'm certain I'm above 5%, think I'm below 10%.
Anyone else experimented with maintaining a weight close to performance weight throughout their training cycle?
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Post by MarkAnderson on Jul 14, 2018 11:02:20 GMT -7
That's what Mike does, and he's been doing that for around 5 years or so. It's been really effective for him from a Climbing-performance-perspective.
There are a couple competing theories on whether or not that's a good idea. Body builders tend to believe it's better to be "fat" while putting on muscle. So if you feel you need/want hypertrophy, it might be better to be "fat" (Of course, hypertrophy in climbers is of questionable value and likely minimal under the best circumstances). On the other hand, it's probably better for your overall health to eat a healthy diet all the time. If you consider current fasting theories, it's probably even better if that healthy diet is also calorie-restricted periodically. I agree it's probably "easier" to stay low, depending on how long you're trying to span between performance periods.
Another key consideration is the rising incidents of Male Anorexia, especially in athletes. There can be some serious negative health impacts from prolonged periods of calorie restriction. I've seen this up close and I can verify that it's a very slippery slope from a healthy interest in being lean to a mental disorder that is irrational and out of control. I think periods of "over" eating can be really helpful in re-setting hormone levels (or whatever) in people who are generally quite lean. It's all a question of how lean you get and for how long, so you may be nowhere close at the moment, but the key point is the psychological side of the equation which is really hard to predict or control.
The most important factor for me is the effect of dieting on mood. I'm generally a pretty irritable person, it's something I've struggled with since I was a little kid. Dieting makes it much worse. Generally I feel really good when I'm dieting, and I tend to have a positive mindset 98% of the time, but that 2% when I snap can do a lot of "damage" to relationships. THe fact is I'm much more fun to be around when I'm "fat." So it's just not worth it for me to stay "low" all the time, even if its more difficult to yo-yo. Maybe if I were a full time climber and could get outside more it would be worth it, but right now I'd rather focus on one or two "serious" seasons a year and be free to focus my attention on my family (and be in a good mood while doing so) the rest of the year.
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Post by Chris W on Jul 14, 2018 19:52:19 GMT -7
That's really interesting; I had no idea. What are his reasons for doing it? That's something I've thought of and actually worried about. I certainly agree it can be a slippery slope, and as athletes we (I) tend to push the envelope. It's interesting, because right up to the point where I started learning how to train for climbing, I had always tried to be heavier (stronger, more muscle, etc). It's only in the last 3-4 years that I've tried to be as light and strong as possible. I'd be really interested in having another objective data point, specifically body fat percentage, to track. As it stands, my strength (SE, hangboarding) and power (limit problems, campus) have all improved while I've kept my weight steady. Thanks to some advice from Bechtel regarding my supplemental exercises, I'm now pulling more (55 pounds added for 2 reps) on my pullups than when I was heavier in college. I'm really interested in the overall health implications of my current weight and diet, especially how it relates to hormones (multiple, not just testosterone). As best I can tell, my diet should be improving my health, but exactly how diet, food and nutrition affect the body (at least in the ways I'm interested in learning about) isn't very well understood. If you want to eat to treat and prevent diabetes, there are lots of good resources. Eating to properly fuel a performance oriented athlete... Ha! I'll bet I've got you beat there! At least I'm not the only one. I've had to pay a lot of attention to my general mood throughout the process, and have documented it in my training logs. It seems like other stressors have more of an impact though, and if anything keeping an even weight makes things easier for me. What I really need to do is win the lottery, switch to part time and buy a vacation home in the New River Gorge.
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Post by erick on Jul 15, 2018 14:48:32 GMT -7
Anyone else experimented with maintaining a weight close to performance weight throughout their training cycle? This is essential what I do. Pre-RCTM I was about your size and always floated around 155. During performance phases I would eat salads with lean protein and roasted veggies almost exclusively while trying to cut flour based foods to a minimum along with salt and sugar. This would get me down to around 145 if I was strict. After a few cycles of this I noticed that I just felt better with my performance diet so I became a flexible vegan. There was a bit of a transition period but I feel pretty good now. During training I allow myself a bit more beer and pizza than I do during performance but that's about the only difference. My base weight now is about 148 and depending on how I eat during performance I can get down to about 143 pretty easily. During the summer my weight usually jumps up to 155 again mostly because of the huge uptick in mountain biking and because I'm guiding and eating trip food. I have put little thought into how this diet my adversely effect my ability to recover or build muscle but I am sure some out there has great evidence that it does in some way.
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Post by Chris W on Jul 16, 2018 18:13:28 GMT -7
So 155 to 143 is a bigger change than I was shooting for. I decided to weigh myself once daily during this experiment to see what happened. It was pretty interesting. I could keep a good variety in my diet and eat more than "normal" without really seeing a weight change. My weight stayed between 153.4 and 156.8, with most days 154 to 155. How much I ate and occasional "non-healthy" foods didn't seem to change things much. When I was hungry, I ate more; I just made sure it was good food. I eat pizza once a week, but it's home made (and I cook it on the grill). We had enough blueberries this year for my wife and the kids to make blueberry pie twice, and each time I had two pieces two nights in a row with gelato.
The biggest changes I've made involve either gross over-eating (like a full box of cereal as a bedtime snack), indulging in an unhealthy amount of sweets (like 4 chick-fil-a chocolate chip cookies in one sitting) and avoiding processed foods (with the exception of my bowl of Kashi GoLean cereal in the morning).
My plan for the coming fall season is to keep my weight the same. I'll switch back to once per week weigh ins and continue a primarily healthy diet. I'm interested to see how I perform when I don't have to cut ten pounds prior to my outdoor climbing.
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